Prince George's County Public Schools Magnet Programs

Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS) is a large public school district administered by the government of Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and is overseen by the Maryland State Department of Education. The school system is headquartered in Upper Marlboro and the district serves all of Prince George's County.The district includes all of the county. The district is headed by Dr. Monica Goldson and a 14-member Board of Education.

With students enrolled for the 2017–2018 school year, the Prince George's County Public Schools system is the second largest school district in the state of Maryland; the third largest school district in both the Washington Metropolitan Area and Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area, after Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia and Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland; and it is one of the top 25 largest school districts in the nation. PGCPS operates 208 schools and special centers which include: 123 elementary schools (PreK-5), 24 middle schools (6-8), 23 high schools (9-12), and 12 academies (PreK-8). The school system also operates 9 special centers, 2 vocational centers, 3 alternative schools, 8 public charter schools, and the Howard B. Owens Science Center, serving students from Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12.

PGCPS operates the two largest high schools in the state of Maryland — (Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School and Northwestern High School), respectively. The school system transports over 90,536 students, daily, by its fleet of 1,335 GPS-equipped school buses, on 5,616 bus routes. PGCPS employs approximately 23,785 staff members which includes an estimated 9,197 teachers. The approved operating budget for FY2014-15 is approximately US$1.795 billion with a per pupil expenditure of US$11,753. Average teacher salary ranges from US$55,689 for teachers with a bachelor's degree to US$80,009 for teachers with a doctorate's degree.

In terms of racial demographics, African-Americans make up the majority of the system's students at 55.32%, followed by 36.46% Hispanic, 3.67% Caucasian, 2.76% Asian, and the remaining 1.79% comprising various other races.

In June 2009, the PGCPS became one of the first school systems in America to name one of its schools after former President Barack Obama. Barack Obama Elementary School, in the Westphalia census-designated place, near Upper Marlboro,2010 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP (INDEX): Westphalia CDP, MD
." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on August 27, 2018. Pages
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. opened in August 2010.

History

Early schools in Prince George's County

In 1899, the first high school was built in Prince George's County, at the northeast corner of Montgomery and Eighth Streets in Laurel, Maryland, and was named Laurel High School.

In 1902, Frederick Sasscer, Jr. became Superintendent of Schools, a post he held until 1914.

Desegregation

In 1974, Prince George's County, Maryland, became the largest school district in the United States forced to adopt a busing plan. The county was over 80 percent white in population and in the public schools. In some county communities close to Washington, there was a higher concentration of black residents than in more outlying areas. The county had a neighborhood-based system of school boundaries. However, the NAACP argued that housing patterns in the county still reflected segregation. The federal court ordered that a school busing plan be set in place. A 1974 Gallup poll showed that 75 percent of county residents were against forced busing, and that only 32 percent of blacks supported it.

The transition happened quickly as the court ordered that the plan be administered with "all due haste". This happened during the middle of the school term, and students, except those in their senior year in high school, were transferred to different schools to achieve racial balance. Many typical school activities and life in general for families in the county was disrupted by things such as the changes in daily times, transportation logistics, and extracurricular activities.

The federal case and the school busing order was officially ended in 2001, as segregation had been erased to the court's satisfaction, and neighborhood-based school boundaries were restored.

School consolidation (2009–2010s)

On March 26, 2009, the Prince George's County Public Schools Board of Education voted to consolidate eight under-enrolled schools in the county and expand magnet program offerings within the school system. This decision was made after a series of community briefings, public hearings, more than 2,500 survey responses, and additional public input.

This process of expanding opportunities for students began in June 2008. The Board of Education directed the school district to conduct a comprehensive review of school enrollments
in September 2008. Recognizing that some schools were significantly under-enrolled, the Board of Education sought to offer more educational opportunities in historically under-served areas of the county, relieve overcrowding where possible, and improve operating efficiencies. The Board of Education used constituent feedback to refine the proposal made by Interim Superintendent Dr. William R. Hite, Jr. earlier this year, and reduced the number of schools to be consolidated to eight instead of 12. The plan still relieves overcrowded schools, identifies space for new academic choices, and expands successful programs. The school district’s next step will be to solicit public input on what new or expanded programs communities would like to see in their schools.

In January 2009, the Superintendent presented the Board with the first of four phases in a proposal. Phase I was approved with the following components for the 2009–2010 school year:

*No high schools were affected by Phase I.
*Eight schools were consolidated and students were reassigned for the 2009–2010 school year. The following schools were closed (permanently) starting with the 2009–2010 school year: Berkshire Elementary, John Carroll Elementary, John E. Howard Elementary, Matthew Henson Elementary, Middleton Valley Elementary, Morningside Elementary, Owens Road Elementary, and G. Gardner Shugart Middle School.
*Five schools were converted to Kindergarten through Grade 8 (K-8) programs: Andrew Jackson Middle School, Samuel P. Massie Elementary School, and William W. Hall Elementary School, whom of which enroll students in grades K-8, while Henry G. Ferguson Elementary School and Eugene Burroughs Middle School, were combined to create the Accokeek Academy PreK-8 school with the Talented & Gifted Center (TAG) Magnet Program from Henry Ferguson carrying over to the newly combined school and expanding to include grades 7 and 8.
*Benjamin D. Foulois Elementary School was converted to a K-8 Creative & Performing Arts magnet center for the southern end of the county, replicating the current program at Thomas G. Pullen Arts Magnet School.
*Concord, Dodge Park, District Heights, and Oakcrest elementary schools were removed from the list of potential schools to be closed/consolidated.
*Communities will make recommendations on what new magnet programs they want for their schools (i.e. Foreign Language Immersion, Montessori)

Additional schools consolidated around 2016, as student populations in southern portions of the county and inside the Capital Beltway decreased; schools in northern parts of PG County, on the other hand, became overcrowded, including schools serving Beltsville, Hyattsville, and Laurel.

Superintendent/CEO

As part of the 2013 reorganization of the PGCPS Board of Education and PGCPS governance spearheaded by county executive Rushern Baker, the position of PGCPS superintendent was renamed as "CEO of PGCPS." The reorganization gave a greater degree of control of operation of the school system to the CEO and limited the powers of the school board. Dr. Kevin Maxwell served as the first CEO of PGCPS until his negotiated exit in 2018, at which time Monica Goldson was elevated from deputy superintendent to interim CEO.

List of superintendents:

* Monica Goldson (interim 2018–2019; 2019–present)
* Kevin M. Maxwell (2013–2018)
* Alvin Crawley (interim 2012–2013)
* William R. Hite, Jr. (interim 2008–2009; 2009–2012)
* John E. Deasy (2006–2008)
* Howard A. Burnett (interim 2005–2006)
* André J. Hornsby (2003–2005)
* Iris T. Metts (1999–2003)
* Jerome Clark (1995–1999)
* Edward M. Felegy (1991–1995)
* John A. Murphy (1984–1991)
* Edward J. Feeney (1976–1984)
* Carl W. Hassel (1970–1976)
* William S. Schmidt (1951–1970)
* G. Gardner Shugart (1944–1951)
* Nicholas Orem Sr. (1921–1943)
* E.S. Burroughs (1915–1921)
* Frederick Sasscer Jr. (1902–1914)

Transportation

Prince George's County Public Schools offers students transportation to and from school with its own bus system. The system runs a fleet of various school bus models by Blue Bird Corporation, IC Bus, and Thomas Built Buses. Models include rear-engined and front-engined types, which all operate on diesel fuel. Special-needs children are provided with an accessible bus. All buses display "Prince George's County Public Schools" on both sides. The transportation department operates from 13 bus lots, which in total operate over 1200 buses on over 5000 routes. Ridership varies annually, although at least 93,000 students ride buses provided by the department. All routes consist of three digit numbers, such as 001, 219 or 615 and a letter-digit route, such as B12 or D14. In addition to transportation to and from schools, the school district runs buses for school field trips, athletic events, and other approved necessities for a bus in Maryland. Ridership of each bus is determined by the distance in which the student lives from their school, which includes but not limited to two miles for intermediate and secondary schools and one and half mile for primary schools. Each route is determined through a trapeze system, in which information regarding students is entered into a computer system and the outcome is their route number.

List of schools

High schools

All high schools in Prince George's County operate with a "comprehensive" model as their base, with the exception of the new Academy of Health Sciences at Prince George's Community College, which is a middle college program. All students are assigned to a high school based on an attendance area.

Magnet Programs operate as a "School-Within-A-School" model, where the magnet serves as an alternative program---in addition to the main comprehensive program---and students from outside the regular attendance area of the high school are enrolled and accepted into the magnet, either through continuity (automatic continuation from a middle school magnet program to the high school level equivalent) or more commonly, through a Magnet Lottery, in which students apply for a magnet program and are granted acceptance through a random drawing. Enrollment into the Center for the Visual and Performing Arts is through audition only.

Several high schools have also implemented a Smaller Learning Community model, where they offer anywhere from two or more Academy Programs, which effectively breaks a school down into several smaller schools within the school, by allowing students to essentially declare a major (such as a student attending a college or university) through career academies such as "Arts, Media, and Communication" or the "National Academy of Finance," for example.

All high schools within PGCPS operate on a staggered school day schedule, where some high schools start as early as 7:45am and end as early as 2:25pm, and other high schools start as late as 9:30am and end as late as 4:10pm. All high schools operate on an alternating A/B-day block scheduling system, where one group of classes are taken on "A-Days" and a different group of classes are taken on "B-Days," and the cycle repeats. Most high schools have between three and four lunch shifts, depending on enrollment and eating accommodations. The only exceptions are Eleanor Roosevelt High School — which has adopted a modified hybrid block schedule in which both traditional single period courses and double period (block schedule) courses are integrated — and the Academy of Health Science at Prince George's Community College.

Middle schools

Intermediate schools are referred to as " middle schools" in the PGCPS system, and operate as grades 6–8 middle schools. Grades 7–9 junior high school were phased out in the mid-1980s. Recent efforts have been made to convert most middle schools to the more popular grades 6–8 model. Issues in the past such as over-enrollment, lack of classroom space, and funding, had made it hard to convert all middle schools to a grades 6–8 configuration, but with increased funding and the addition of new middle schools, the transition is slowly being made, to be completed by the beginning of SY2024-2025.

Most middle schools in Prince George's County operate with a "comprehensive" model, as their base. Most students are assigned to a middle school based on an "attendance area." Most magnet programs operate as a "School-Within-A-School" model, where the magnet serves as an alternative program, in addition to the main comprehensive program, and students from outside the regular attendance area of the middle school are enrolled and accepted into the magnet, either through "continuity" (automatic continuation from an elementary school magnet program to the middle school level equivalent) or more commonly, through a magnet lottery, where students apply for a magnet program and are granted acceptance through a random drawing. Almost all middle schools have a whole-school "Signature Program" that includes a specialized program of instruction which is the foundation of the school's comprehensive program.

All middle schools in the PGCPS operate on a staggered school day schedule, where some middle schools start as early as 7:30 am and the end as early as 2:50 pm, and other middle schools start as late as 9:00 am and end as late as 4:20 pm. All middle schools operate on a modified block scheduling system, where some classes meet for as long as 70-minutes, daily. For the 2012-13 school year and beyond, an additional 40-minutes of instruction time has been added to the school day for all middle schools and their students, within the school district.

In a cooperative effort of the county government, Board of Education, and the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) some M-NCPPC community centers are physically connected to middle schools, throughout the district. The unique community park/school centers features shared use areas which include a gymnasium, multi-purpose room, exercise/fitness room, dance room, arts and crafts room, computer lab, offices; storage areas, patio area, and restrooms. There are tennis courts and unlighted fields located on-site at select centers.

Dedicated magnet schools

Dedicated magnet schools are offered in the PGCPS system at the PreK-8th grade, elementary and middle school level only. As of 2012-13, Glenarden Woods and Heather Hills are the only full elementary-level dedicated magnet schools in the system. Dedicated magnet schools are "whole school" programs and differ from traditional comprehensive schools, as (1) all students at the school are enrolled and receive instruction in the magnet program and (2) traditional attendance areas for assigning students to a school are replaced by much larger geographical attendance zones, usually split between north county (areas north of Central Avenue) and south county (areas south of Central Avenue). Whole school, dedicated magnet programs are offered through the Creative and Performing Arts, French Immersion, Montessori, and Talented & Gifted Center magnet programs. Students receive specialized instruction that varies from the typical comprehensive program, offered at most other schools. Students are selected for the magnet programs through a magnet lottery for the French Immersion and Montessori programs and also for the Creative and Performing Arts program at the elementary school level. Acceptance into the Creative and Performing Arts program is through audition only at the middle school level. Acceptance into the TAG Centers at Glenarden Woods and Heather Hills Elementary Schools is through specialized TAG testing only.

Combined elementary and middle schools

Pre-kindergarten through grade 8 schools are essentially combined elementary and middle schools, facilitated in one building. Most of these schools are referred to as "academies" in the school district. The elementary school usually starts at pre-kindergarten and ends at grade 5 and the middle school starts at grade 6 and ends at grade 8. These schools usually offer a slightly enhanced standard of learning and studies have suggested that students have benefited from being in one continuous facility from kindergarten through 8th grade, without having the disruption having to attend a brand new school, for the middle school years. Cora L. Rice Elementary School and G. James Gholson Middle School are not true academies. Both schools are housed in one facility but they operate as two completely separate schools for all intents and purposes.

Elementary schools

Elementary schools in Prince George's County operate in several configurations, ranging from Pre-K (Head Start) through grade 6. Most elementary schools operate under a kindergarten through grade 6 configuration, and lack a pre-kindergarten/Head Start program. More recently, with boundary realignments to ease overcrowding and with the opening of newer and larger schools and increased funding, several schools have changed to a PreK-6th grade configuration while others have added a Pre-kindergarten, but dropped the sixth grade, to change to a Pre-K through grade 5 school. The sixth grades from those schools were added to the elementary schools' feeder middle schools.

In a cooperative effort of the county government, Board of Education, and the Maryland National Capital Park & Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), several M-NCPPC community centers are physically connected to elementary schools, throughout the district. The unique community park/school centers features shared use areas which include a gymnasium, multi-purpose room, exercise/fitness room, dance room, arts and crafts room, computer lab, offices, storage areas, patio area, and restrooms. Tennis courts and unlighted fields are located on-site at select centers.

Former schools

; High schools:
* Forestville High School (Forestville Military Academy)
* Frederick Sasscer Junior-Senior High School ( Upper Marlboro) - Established in 1948 to relieve crowding at the former Marlboro High School. The school was named after the first Prince George's County Superintendent of Schools, Frederick Sasscer Jr. (1902–1914). The last graduating class was in 1971. The school became a junior high school only beginning in the 1971-72 school year and, in the late 1970s, school operations ceased and the facility was transformed into the Prince George's County Board of Education's Sasscer Administration Building.
* Lakeland High School ( College Park) - A segregated school for black children, operated from 1928,Lakeland Community Heritage Project Inc. ''Lakeland: African Americans in College Park''. Arcadia Publishing, September 18, 2012. , 9781439622742. Google Booksbr>PT32
. to 1950, when it was replaced by Fairmont Heights High School near Fairmount Heights.
* Marlboro High School (Upper Marlboro, Maryland) - Marlboro High School began as Upper Marlboro Academy in c. 1860. The building was replaced in 1934, and the school became Marlboro High School. It operated until 1948 when junior and high school operations were moved to the, at the time, new Frederick Sasscer High School to address overcrowding. Primary school operations continued at the former high school until 1974.
; Middle schools:
* Eugene Borroughs Middle School ( Accokeek) - Merged into Accokeek Academy in 2009.
* Frederick Sasscer Junior High School ( Upper Marlboro) - Began operations in the 1971-72 school year as a junior high school only after students in grades 10 through 12 were moved to other schools, operating until the late 1970s when the facility was transformed into the Prince George's County Board of Education's Sasscer Administration Building.
* G. Gardner Shugart Middle School ( Hillcrest Heights CDP) - Shugart was scheduled to close in 2009. According to a ''Washington Post'' article written by Nelson Hernandez, Shugart, in which 35% of its students passed a State of Maryland mathematics proficiency test and which underwent a restructuring required by State of Maryland authorities, "is among the schools with long-standing academic problems".

; Elementary schools:
* Berkshire Elementary School ( Suitland CDP)2010 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP (INDEX): Suitland CDP, MD
." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on August 29, 2018. Pages
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. - It could hold up to 550 students. Berkshire Elementary closed in 2009. Its final enrollment was 281.
* John Carroll Elementary School (current Summerfield CDP) - Scheduled to close in 2009.''Preliminary Subregion 4 Master Plan and Proposed Sectional Map Amendment''. Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
Chapter 9, Public Facilities
. p. 261 (PDF p. 3/28). Retrieved on September 7, 2018.
* Mullikin Elementary (Mitchellville, Maryland) Operated from at least the 1940s until the mid-1960s when it burned and was razed. Today, the land serves as a Prince George's County school bus lot.
* Thomas Claggett Elementary School ( Walker Mill CDP) - Its official capacity was 464. In 2005 it had 236 students, filling 49% of the official capacity; this was the lowest percentage of any PGCPS school.( Archive.is) At one point the capacity percentage was 38%. In 2010 it had 290 students, but after that year the student count declined: it had 216, and later 223 in the 2013-2014 school year, and the projected 2014-2015 enrollment was 187. In addition, in state tests circa 2014, about 56% of the students were proficient in reading while 36.7% were proficient in mathematics. In May 2014 PGCPS applied for a grant from the state of Maryland that would permit it to close Claggett.
* College Park Elementary School ( College Park) - For a period Friends Community School occupied the building, but it moved out in 2007. The nascent College Park Academy attempted to lease the previous College Park elementary building, but there was community opposition. The grade 6-12 charter school currently is located in Riverdale Park.
* Henry G. Ferguson Elementary School ( Accokeek) - Merged into Accokeek Academy in 2009.
* Matthew Henson Elementary School ( Landover CDP)2010 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Landover CDP, MD
." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on September 1, 2018. - Scheduled to close in 2009. In 2012 EXCEL Academy agreed to open a charter school in the former Henson space, and it moved from its previous campus in Riverdale.
* John Edgar Howard Elementary School ( Coral Hills CDP) - Scheduled to close in 2009. The facility is now used as the John E. Howard Community Center, operated by the Prince George's County Department of Parks and Recreation.
* Lakeland Elementary School (College Park) - A segregated school for black children, it opened in 1925.
* Middleton Valley Elementary School ( Camp Springs CDP)2010 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP (INDEX): Camp Springs CDP, MD
." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on August 29, 2018. p
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. - It was scheduled to close on June 18, 2009.
* Morningside Elementary School ( Morningside)2010 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP (INDEX): Morningside town, MD
." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on August 29, 2018. Pages
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.About Our School
." Morningside Elemenatary School. Retrieved on August 29, 2018. "6900 Ames Street, Suitland, Maryland 20746" and "Situated in the town of Morningside, .. - It opened in 1956. The school, which had a capacity of 300 students, closed in 2009. At the end of its life it was one of the few PGCPS schools in which significant numbers of students traveled to school on foot. A report made by a non-PGCPS authority generated around 2009 stated that the condition of Morningside Elementary's building was one of the poorest of any school in Prince George's County. By 2011 Imagine Schools was scheduled to open a campus in the former Morningside Elementary, now known as Imagine Foundations at Morningside Public Charter School, which serves grades PK-8.
* Owens Road Elementary School ( Glassmanor CDP)2010 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Glassmanor CDP, MD
." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on August 29, 2018. - It was scheduled to close on June 18, 2009.
* Skyline Elementary School (Camp Springs) - It closed in 2016. Post-closure its students were to be sent to Beanes Elementary. Until its closing it had a program for autistic students.

Accolades and achievements

''Newsweek''s America's Best High Schools

In June 2010, seven PGCPS high school were listed in ''Newsweek''s annual list of the top 1600 high schools in the nation. This was up from five county high schools which made the list from the previous year. The 2010 list included Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt (#409), Oxon Hill High School